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"Sketching is one of my passions. I don't feel comfortable when I leave home without a sketchbook and some pens in my bag. I think that my way to put things in my memory is to draw them. And taking pictures isn't the same thing.

I live in a very dynamic surrounding — Israel is a warm country with warm weather and warm people. Of course, we have seashores, which calm us a little bit. I love to sit in a corner of some Tel-Aviv coffee shop and explore relationships: between people, their environment, between myself. All this unique local mix of cultures, languages and styles is always a great source for inspiration. You need to be fast, because, as I said, everything is very dynamic. But that's why I love it so much.

Sometimes, I look around, and I find some usual items like sugar bags or napkins. I use them in my drawings to show the atmosphere. Sometimes I draw directly on placemats."

"The dictionary says that a hobby is “an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation.” Although urban sketching certainly provides both pleasure and relaxation, I don’t think of it as my hobby. I think of it more as a way of life – something that has become such a normal part of my everydayness that it shapes how I view the world.

For most of my life I had both the fear of drawing as well as the desire to draw. In 2011, inspired by Gabi Campanario’s Seattle Sketcher column, I finally decided to overcome the fear. His drawings of Seattle – my birthplace and lifelong home – were of sights that I had seen many times, yet had never truly seen. I wanted to learn to see, and therefore experience, those locations (and any new ones that I travel to) more completely. Part 8 of the Urban Sketchers Manifesto, to “show the world, one drawing at a time,” has a flip side: Sketching enables me to see my own world, one drawing at a time.

In the last four years, it is not an exaggeration to say that Urban Sketchers has changed my life. I have met and sketched with many wonderful people around the globe, either at symposiums or during other travel, because the USk network brought us together. I sketch almost weekly with my local group, sharing sketches, art supplies and friendship. Even when I stay home and enjoy sketches online, I am still a part of that rich network, learning with every sketch about other people’s lives.

In May, my husband Greg and I went to France for the first time, and I sketched the Eiffel Tower. Sketching one of the world’s most famous icons felt like a dream come true – the ultimate in urban sketching. But although I can’t resist sketching world-famous icons whenever I’m fortunate enough to see them, for me, urban sketching is much more than that.

Urban sketching is a tree with its middle chopped away to accommodate Seattle’s ubiquitous power lines. It’s about a couple of women chatting over coffee, or about workers roofing the house next door. It’s about an excavator filling a hole where a cherry tree once stood. Or the Tibetan monastery I drive by frequently that I couldn’t resist because it’s bright orange. Urban sketching is a string band performing at a local farmers’ market – or perhaps in Villefranche-sur-Mer.

Celebrating the mundane as well as the famous is what urban sketching is all about. My sketches are not necessarily about “special” moments; they are moments made special because I sketched them."

Tina has been editor of Drawing Attention since 2013 and now serves on the Urban Sketchers editorial board. See more of her sketches on her blog, on Flickr and on Instagram.

"I was born in Mumbai (Bombay) and lived in different parts of India until I moved to San Jose, California, where I now live.

Travel inspires my art, but, traveling or not, I try to view the world around me as a traveller would; so whether I’m capturing a moment of calm on the banks of the Ganges in India, or sketching over coffee at my local coffee shop, I aim to look deeply, and with wonder, at both the everyday and the exotic, the old and the new.

I love color. My sketch kit consists of Extra Fine Sharpies (the fact that they bleed into the paper as soon as they touch it works really well for me—it forces me to work super-quick), a small set of Prismacolor pencils and a little watercolor travel set".• Blog• Flickr

"I was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where I studied architecture. I moved to Kassel (Germany) in 1999 to accomplish a master degree.
Although I have always drawn and paint, it was not until I started studying in the Uni-Kassel, that I started keeping a travel sketchbook. I had a teacher there who used to do a lot of sketches when he travelled on university excursions. When he retired, I helped to organize an exhibition of his sketches. He brought a huge box full of sketchbooks he had filled since he was an architecture student. I spent a whole day selecting the most interesting drawings. It was a wonderful experience that opened my eyes to a new world.
In the last 10 years I have the feeling of being in a long journey. I like to discover the cities where I live, to understand why a place is the way it is and what makes it different and unique from others. Drawing is for me a way to learn to love a place, to become part of it.
I like to draw architecture but I am more attracted to urban scenery, portraying how people live in the city. Since I’m a foreigner, everything that locals find normal and taken-for-granted, for me is exotic. I always carry a small watercolor travel set from Windsor and Newton and my sketchbook in my bag.
I always thought that drawing was a solitary experience until I found Urban Sketchers. It was amazing to find so many people doing the same thing. It is a great place to share!"
• Omar's blog.
• Omar's art on flickr.
• Omar's website.

Teo Cheng Huat

"My real interest in sketching started back in Singapore in 1980, when I was in the armed forces serving as a medical orderly for a military school. Every three months, a new batch of officer cadets would be trained at the school. My main duty was to be embedded to their field training as part of the medical support team. Since I had a lot of free time when they are out in the field doing their training, I began to spend time drawing everyday scenes and stuff that trainees do during training and in their off hours. Just like writing a diary, I sketched hilarious things like what the trainees would do behind the back of their officer or faking illness just to get a medical excuse for training. Two years ago, I selected some of the sketches, have them printed and call the sketchbook ‘My Army Daze.’

After graduating as a interior designer from Singapore in 1985, I got involved in restoration projects and landscaping. Most of these projects are best expressed in the form of hand drawn sketches which eventually I was able to create in my own style.

My home is now in Beijing. However, I am spending a lot of time in Hong Kong recently. Hong Kong is an exciting place to be and shopping and eating are favorite pastime. Since I grew up in Singapore , soon these pastimes are not for me anymore so I begin to explore the least popular places. I try to spend time on weekends visiting old streets, houses, shops and markets as well as some of the outlying islands around Hong Kong . Sometime, we can still find an old tea house, Tim Sum’ restaurant, barber shop and tiny hardware store in up-market area like SOHO or Central district. I hope to draw and sketch them before they are demolished and give way to new commercial and expensive residential development. Back in Singapore, old historical buildings are turned into shopping centers, hotels and posh restaurants. It is quite sad to see these things happening in Hong Kong as well and these places are disappearing every day. I hope I can draw and record these scene as much as possible. My wife introduced me to Urban Sketchers earlier this year and ever since, I am very happy and glad to share my sketches with others.

During my time in Beijing, I will visit the art districts. One of the popular area is 798 Arts District. Other time in Beijing , I will often visit some nearby farms and small towns far away from the city and do sketching of the quiet and peaceful countryside. Traveling to other parts of China is always a great experience because every time there are so much changes in the same city or town due to the rapid changes and developments. In Shanghai, The Bund and in Tianjin, Caozhuangzi Village are good places to do sketching, there are many Western influenced architecture and markets where some varnishing trades still exist.

Beside, I like to cook and most of the time I will sketch my menu and also planning to do a illustrated cookbook soon."